As Hurricane Isabel Bears Down, Disaster Plans Are Put Into Effect
Monday, September 15, 2003
By David M. Halbfinger
New York Times Writer
Tonya Vermilion, 30, said that even if a mandatory evacuation was ordered, she planned to ride out the storm with her husband and two young girls. "My first daughter was born right between Dennis and Floyd, the hurricanes in 1999. The houses down here are built to withstand 130 m.p.h. winds. I wouldn't feel comfortable pushing it beyond that. But my husband's braver than I am. He's a mason, and he's afraid he'll miss out on the rebuilding work afterwards, that he won't be able to get back in because of the flooding. If you got a big truck and a chain saw, you're good, as long as you're there."
As of 11 AM AST this morning, Hurricane Isabel was centered at 27.4 north, 71.2 west, or about 600 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Maximum sustained winds are 105 mph, with hurricane-force winds extending out 120 miles from the center. Isabel is moving north-northwest at 8 mph. The central pressure is 959 mb (28.32 inches). Though Isabel is not as strong as it once was, it is still a strong category 2 hurricane. During the late morning yesterday, the hurricane started to feel the effects of shear. It weakened, and the western side of the storm became ragged. That trend has obviously continued. However, the short wave, or trough, that has come into the eastern U.S. will lift out to the northeast in the next 12-18 hours; the hurricane will move into an area tomorrow where it just may re-intensify. We do not think it will become a category 5 again, but odds seem to favor at least some strengthening from its current status. At this time, we expect landfall later Thursday, most likely on the beaches of northeastern North Carolina, although there is still uncertainty. Folks from North Carolina northward to New Jersey should continue preparations. We still believe that Isabel will be strong category 2, or perhaps even a category 3 hurricane at landfall. Another trough will push into the Great Lakes and Midwest on Friday, and what happens with Isabel after landfall will be determined by the interaction of the hurricane with that trough. Another couple of tropical waves in the Atlantic need to be mentioned. One is about 1,200 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, and the other near the Lesser Antilles. Neither shows any real signs of organization.
Image Credit: AccuWeather, Inc
POSTED: September 16, 2003 12:56 a.m.
KITTY HAWK, N.C. -- source
The East Coast girded for the worst today as Hurricane Isabel, its maximum sustained winds easing slightly to a still-powerful 120 miles per hour, churned up the Atlantic. Forecasters said that if the storm stayed on track, it would slam into the fragile Outer Banks of North Carolina in three days and grind on up Chesapeake Bay.
As emergency-management officials from South Carolina to Massachusetts activated disaster plans, the Navy ordered 40 warships and submarines in Norfolk to put to sea, the Air Force ordered fighter jets at coastal bases to fly inland as far as Oklahoma and the governor of Virginia declared a state of emergency.
For longtime residents of coastal communities, who know to monitor weather reports and Web sites come September, preparations for Isabel were already well under way over the weekend, a result of a new government effort to provide five-day forecasts of hurricane movements. Federal officials said their five-day hurricane forecasts were now just as reliable as a three-day forecast was 15 years ago.
Experts said that the most likely path would take the storm over the Outer Banks and up the Chesapeake toward Washington but that it was still possible it could strike New England.
Evacuations have already been ordered in some coastal communities in Virginia and North Carolina.
(More: NYTimes.com)
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Dan
As Hurricane Isabel Bears Down, Disaster Plans Are Put Into Effect . . .